BET Awards honor Beyonce, Hudson

By Kimberly Nordyke

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Dreamgirls" co-stars Beyonce and Jennifer Hudson were the big winners Tuesday at the BET Awards, an event honoring black actors, singers and sports stars. The event was held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, and broadcast on the BET cable channel.

The singer-actresses each took home two awards. Beyonce was named best female R&B artist and won for video of the year for "Irreplaceable." while Hudson won best new artist and best female actress.

Forest Whitaker ("The Last King of Scotland") was named best male actor during the ceremony, hosted for the third time by actress-comedian Mo'Nique. Both Hudson and Whitaker nabbed Oscars this year for their performances.

Elsewhere in the music categories, Ne-Yo took home the award for best male R&B artist, while Gnarls Barkley won for best group. T.I. was a repeat winner this year with another nod as best hip-hop artist, while Kirk Franklin also repeated his win as best gospel artist.

Winning the award for best song collaboration was "Runaway Love," by Ludacris featuring Mary J. Blige.

The "BET J Cool Like That" award went to R&B singer Gerald Levert, who died in November.

Basketball star LeBron James was again named male athlete of the year, while tennis pro Serena Williams scored with the award for female athlete of the year.

Diana Ross was honored with a lifetime achievement award, and Don Cheadle was honored for his efforts to raise awareness about the genocide in Darfur.

BET Networks also paid tribute to James Brown, who died in December, and Levert with performances by Bootsy Collins, Public Enemy, Gladys Knight and Yolanda Adams.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter